There have been many different types and kinds of board games. For example, question-answer board games have been used for amusement purposes. Such games have typically included a game board, playing cards, position marking pieces, and a move determining device.
Other types and kinds of board games used for purposes have also been known to stimulate the interest of users. They have included devices for prompting a player to fill in a missing word, phrase or the like. For example, reference may be made to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,715,608; 4,607,848; 4,273,337; 4,201,388; 3,143,348; 3,081,088; and 1,327,019.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,388, there is disclosed game apparatus which represents one of the typical question/answer games. The patented game includes corresponding sets of question and answer cards, with the question cards containing a biblical quotation or scripture passage with certain words omitted therefrom, corresponding to certain correct answer words among a group of possible answer words, (multiple-choice) which are provided. A game board includes a path of travel, extending from a starting position and terminating at a finishing position. A position determining device, such as a die or spinner, indicates the movement of markers along the path of travel. Such a game must have a large game board for accommodating such a long, sprawling pathway. Such a large game board is sometimes awkward to use. For example, it is difficult to play such a game, while traveling in a vehicle, due to the size of the game board. Also, when it is desired to be used in confined areas, such as automobiles, the long, sprawling pathway with numerous board indicia, all of the players may not be able to read the board indicia in a convenient manner, in order to complete the game successfully.
It would, therefore, be highly desirable to have a board game apparatus which includes a compact sized game board, having a simple format, which would enable the game apparatus to be used in close quarters, such as the interior of a vehicle, and which is educational and self-improvement orientated by including cognitively oriented questions to be answered as a part of the game.
However, the game should be interesting and informative to play, should use the question and answer format, and should have new and unique categories of questions.
Other types of interesting question and answer board games have attempted to provide a large number of categories of questions for player challenge. For example, the game sold under the tradename "TRIVIAL PURSUIT", includes storage boxes filled with a large number of question and answer playing cards which may be individually retrieved from the box during the progress of the game. The trivia questions are divided into a number of categories.
By having the playing cards stored in a large box separate from the game board, such an arrangement is awkward, especially where space is confined. In this regard, while traveling in a vehicle, such a large box of cards is not always convenient to use. Moreover, the game board includes a sprawling pathway having starting and finishing positions, and such a board only serves to compound the problem of a large playing card box.
The TRIVIAL PURSUIT game board apparatus not only includes a sprawling pathway having starting and finishing positions, but also includes multiple small puzzle-like pieces to complete a design, in order to complete the game. The large board, along with numerous small pieces only serve to compound unduly the problem of playing the game in compact quarters. Also, this is a trivia question game, and generally would not be considered as an educational instrument.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a truly educational and self-improvement type question and answer board game, which provides the players with a sizeable number of unique question categories, and which has a compact board game and convenient to use playing card storage facilities. Such playing card storage facilities should utilize question/answer cards, which could be easily and conveniently stored and retrieved for play during the course of the game. In this manner, such a novel game could utilize categorized question and answer cards, not be overburdened with numerous small easy-to-lose pieces, yet be educational and self-improvement in manner and should develop very different cognitive processes, skills, and knowledge (compared to the other games) and could be used in confined quarters, such as vehicles.